I actually just ordered 2 of the Corsair SP120 High Performance fans for my P280. They will be replacing some Noctua NF-P12's if they work well. I have a fan controller thus I figured I might as well get the HP ones and lower them when needed.

Thanks man, but I've seen all the comparisons. I rely more on word of mouth from current users than some perfected scientific experiment. Those tests only compare one variable, maybe more with price but that's not what I'm looking for, sorry.

Scientific tests are going to be much more objective than any "word of mouth". They do focus on a handful of variables, but there's only really 1 that matters - air flow through a restriction vs noise made. The other may be sound profile of fan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dPaquin

edit: I've decided on the SP120 Quiet Edition fans. I didn't believe cougars specs when they claimed to have amazing airflow from 1200rpm and <20dBs. I can't tell if their marketing won me over, but I chose CM. Only thing that I have purchased from them before so I hope they are well. Ordered 3 of them to intake. 2 to pull from outside and 1 to push towards GPU

As has been indicated, most real world users say that the Cougar specs are pretty close to what they say.

That said, the Gentle Typhoon is your best bet. The consensus is that the GT will outperform the Corsair SP120.

You'll probably be happy with the Corsairs. They aren't amazing, but they're solid performers for the price. I'd go with the PWM version if you have the mobo headers for it, or use a 9v limiter. The Quiet Editions run too fast, imo.

I got my SP120's today and I'm not too pleased with them. They aren't that loud outside of the case but in the case they start to really whine. They are going back. As my luck would have it of course, when I went to put my NF-P12's back in, I noticed both were leaking oil... My NF-P12's are only 5 months old! Even though I'm over paying I just bit the bullet and got some AP-15's, I had one before that I sent back because it had a whine at certain frequencies but I can deal with that more than I can deal with the SP120's.

EDIT: As far as the performance, if you can deal with the noise, the SP120's perform really well.

Well I just installed these fans in my case and I can say they are quieter than I was expecting! They push the air right through my hard drive cage into my graphics card and I'm glad I didn't need to shell out $10 more a piece for "just-as-good" performance from Noctua and I may buy another one with the savings! I'm happy with the purchase for anyone in the same situation as me. They look pretty fu*king awesome, also.